Severe thunderstorms swept through southern Onslow County on Saturday evening, damaging Sneads Ferry RV Park, leaving at least one camper unlivable and scattering trees and branches near Old Folkstone Road.
By Sunday, park residents and staff were clearing debris and arranging temporary housing for a displaced family, according to reporting from WITN.
A child was inside as the camper shook
Jessica Felker told the station she was at work when the storm moved in and her 10-year-old grandson was inside the family’s camper. Brett Wheaton rushed to the site and got the child out.
The camper was heavily damaged and flooded, making it unlivable. Felker, her grandson and five pets were being placed in temporary housing at the park. No injuries were reported in the station’s account.
That is the human side of a storm report that otherwise reads like a list of coordinates and downed trees. A few minutes of wind and rain can turn someone’s home into debris, even when the structure happens to have wheels.
Official reports put wind damage near Old Folkstone Road
The NOAA Storm Prediction Center’s preliminary reports recorded two wind-damage reports in the immediate area. At 6:44 p.m. Eastern time, multiple large trees were reported down near Old Folkstone Road. Six minutes later, a report three miles west-southwest of Sneads Ferry described strong winds tossing small and medium branches, including some onto power lines.
The RV park lists its address as 933 Old Folkstone Road. The federal reports establish that damaging thunderstorm winds were moving through the same corridor at roughly the same time. They do not provide a measured wind gust for either report, and they do not say a tornado struck the park.
Onslow County was also included in Severe Thunderstorm Watch 657 until 10 p.m. Later, at 7:27 p.m., the National Weather Service office in Newport/Morehead City issued a flood advisory for central Onslow County. Radar indicated that 2 to 4 inches of rain had already fallen, with another half-inch to one inch possible. Sneads Ferry was among the communities named in the advisory.
What has—and has not—been confirmed
The preliminary federal reports for the Sept. 5 event list wind damage in the Sneads Ferry area but no tornado. That distinction matters. Storm damage can look dramatic without a tornado, and guessing at the cause before a National Weather Service determination does not make the guess more useful.
As of Sunday night, the sources reviewed for this report did not include a countywide damage estimate, an official total of displaced residents or a formal weather-service damage survey for the RV park. Preliminary storm reports can be corrected as additional information comes in.
Residents started cleanup Sunday
WITN reported that residents and park staff were already clearing debris Sunday morning. A part-time maintenance worker described the park as a community where people step in for one another, and the park arranged temporary housing for Felker’s household.
For now, that cleanup is the story on the ground: damaged homes, wet belongings and neighbors doing the work that begins after the warnings expire.
Read more Onslow County local news from Killjoy Media.